Another Fate, Another End, Another Eatery
by ahsoei
Summary: "For a miracle to happen, one must wait endlessly, while the other one must search tirelessly." - Is it really just like that? There must be some way, or some place where the two can meet again? (Sorry if the summary is bad)


**I just watched Isekai Shokudou – Restaurant to Another World and I suddenly got an inspiration to write this one-shot. Enjoy!**

* * *

How long had he been searching by that point?

The man in question himself honestly had no idea, as he kept living, fighting forces that obviously outclassed him in more ways than one, walking through battles, pain, and bloodshed; for the sake of his foolish, impossible, yet noble ideal – so he had a face when he saw _her_ again.

The years after the Fifth Heaven's Feel ritual – The Holy Grail War, had been kind and harsh to him simultaneously, as strange as it sounded. Ever since the passing of his foster-sister, Shirou Emiya had been travelling across the world, helping the powerless, fighting against Dead Apostles, rogue magus or sealing designate, even some kind of eldritch horrors that had yet been known by the Clock Tower itself; in order to see _her_ again.

However, there were some moments of reprieve, where he could relax and take it easy sometimes. Those moments were when he made a quick visit to check on friends: Rin Tohsaka, Sakura Matou – his two best friends, the estranged sisters had found themselves reconciling with each other ever since the gruelling battle with a certain old worm beneath Sakura's house; Taiga Fujimura – his surrogate sister who was still working as a teacher at his old school; and some other acquaintances he met at Clock Tower – but that was a story for another time.

* * *

Shirou was sitting on a table, sipping cup of tea in one fine afternoon, a break in his hard days. Revelling the taste of the drink on his taste-bud, he swallowed the warm liquid and stared at the surface of the tea with impressed eyes.

"This is very nice." Shirou complimented. "A touch of Darjeeling with a hint of cinnamon?"

The table where Shirou was occupying was not far from the kitchen, where the chef – the owner of Nekoya, was stationed. A man in his thirties, dressed in his chef uniform, popped out from the said kitchen. "Close enough." The owner replied as he smiled that his customer liked his brew. "…Though, there is another ingredient that helps to control the cinnamon."

Shirou hummed as he furrowed his eyebrow in thought, recalling the taste and scent he had received from his drink, to find if there was anything indicated by the owner. "….I guess a nutmeg had been added into this." He nodded in conviction. "It surely helps, but something a little more citreous would be appropriate, don't you think?"

"Hmm… I've tried that, but nothing seems to fit…" the owner rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully. "Any ideas?"

"Maybe few drops of grapefruit and a couple of pomegranate juice? That might help the cinnamon while boosting the nutmeg." Shirou supplied as he took another sip. "…Though you probably need to hold back with the cinnamon in the end."

The owner hummed in thought for a second before his face lit up in approval. "…I guess that's worth a shot. Thanks for the idea."

"No problem."

This was also another reprieve where Shirou sat inside a certain restaurant at Tokyo - Nekoya. Everything started when he was making a quick stop on Tokyo to replenish his strength after another gruesome fight, and he found himself frequenting that particular cafeteria. From what he heard from his fellow patrons, despite being a western restaurant, the place also provided various dishes besides western cuisines.

On the other hand, the owner was glad that Shirou became one of his regulars. Despite the young age, the man had been a good conversation partner, as he would give useful comments – critics or compliments for him to improve his dishes, like what he just suggested about his tea. Shirou would drop by from time to time, either to get himself some lunch/dinner, or just to sit back for some coffee/tea break.

Shirou liked Nekoya so far; the place was simple, humble, yet very clean and well-maintained. The wooden furniture served to provide some aesthetics that could sooth the exhausted minds and bodies of salary-men who would stop there for lunch. Shirou also got to know the owner of the said restaurant, a male chef in his thirties, who had been friendly enough to chat with him from time to time whenever Shirou was the only customer.

When it came to the food; Shirou was confident in his own cooking skills, yet he found the food served for him had met his acceptable standards – albeit with some rooms for improvement. Shirou would say that the owner's skills in serving food was probably on par, if not surpassing, Sakura who he had taught personally in his younger days. Overall, Shirou had nothing to complain about the dishes of Nekoya.

However, every time Shirou came over, he always noticed something was 'off' with the restaurant, particularly at the door. There was a noticeable trace of high-level thaumaturgy, even Shirou's senses were alerted that such level was on par with a friggin' _true magic_. Then again, there was no actual trace of hostility. In fact, from lacking of any strange rumours around the restaurant alone, aside the fact that the restaurant would close every Saturday, and the said restaurant had been operating for over 50 years, Shirou came to a conclusion that there was nothing harmful, at least for the time being. It was actually a part of the reason why Shirou would frequently visit the place, to make sure that there was nothing dangerous happens.

One day, Shirou's life began to take a different turn when the owner offered him a part-time job at the restaurant during weekdays, due some of his employees had quit just recently. For him, it might be an opportunity to satiate his curiosity over magical signatures that he had been picking up from the restaurant – it would be easier for him to keep an eye on the place. Besides, working at a place like Nekoya could serve him as a nice change of pace from time to time. Also, the payment was good enough to lessen his financial issues while travelling around the world.

As for the owner, business on weekdays became more productive with Shirou around. The new guy was helpful, efficient, and the owner was pleasantly surprised that Shirou was an excellent cook in his own right. Works during rush hours had become significantly easier with him around. And for some reason, the number of female customers had increased ever since Shirou had begun his employment.

At the same time, the owner had another thought. How long had he been operating this place? How old was he by this point? Before, his father had already begun his training in succeeding the restaurant as soon as he had entered college. However, he had already in his thirties; he would not stay young forever, and he certainly would not live forever. When the time came when he would not be able to operate the restaurant, who would look after it? There were so many customers from the other side that would eagerly look forward for his cooking, he could not just leave them like that.

His thought then drifted to his most recent charge. Shirou Emiya had proven himself as an excellent cook, efficient worker, and at least hospitable person. Perhaps he could place his bet on him?

oXo

One day, Shirou's impression about the restaurant took a drastic turn when he was called to the owner's office after closing the restaurant. His eyes laid upon a certain framed picture – a photograph, when he was scanning around the owner's workshop. It was a picture of two men; Shirou could only assume that one man was the former owner of the restaurant, judging by his white chef outfit.

The other man however, Shirou could not mistake him for anyone else. He was one of handful people that had been causing him many of his headaches with pranks, absurdly difficult mission, etc; yet at the same time, he was also the person who had pulled his ass out of tight situation in multiple occasions.

"Hm? Shirou-san?" the owner of the Nekoya turned to see one of his regulars staring at the photograph. "…Something caught your fancy?"

"Um…. Owner." Shirou addressed the chef after swallowing a small lump. "May I know the people in that picture?"

The said owner quirked an eyebrow, but he replied nonetheless. "Err… That's my grandfather, who found this restaurant around 50 years ago…. The one next to him… I don't know much about him, but my father said he's some kind of co-founder, a sponsor or benefactor, something like that." He said while scratching the back of his head.

Shirou resisted the urge to face-palm as everything made sense to him; all the magical traces that were on par with sorcery, was because Kischur Zelretch _fucking_ Schweinorg had a hand in building the restaurant. For what reason, Shirou did not bother to find out.

"…I see." Shirou decided to ignore that piece of information and focus at the matter at hand. "So, what is it that you need me for?"

The owner blinked at Shirou's odd behaviour, but he put it aside to address the main topic. "First, I want to ask you if you are available on Saturday."

That request made Shirou blinked. "Erm… Before I say anything, what is it on Saturday? What do you want me to do?"

The owner shifted on his seat to make himself more comfortable. "In that case, before I go further… Can you promise me that our conversation will stay in this room?"

Shirou narrowed eyes ever so slightly at the request. Thinking back that the restaurant was built by that old vampire, Shirou thought it might be something… dangerous. However, he nodded nonetheless.

"The thing is…. We actually operate on Saturday." That statement made Shirou raised his eyebrows ever so slightly, prompting the owner to continue. "But I'm not saying that we're serving food like in weekdays…." The owner then scratched his head, unsure of how to explain things. "…You know what, I think it's gonna be easier if I show you myself. Can you come over this Saturday morning? Be sure to use the back door, if you don't mind."

With that, the conversation ended that day, leaving Shirou musing in curiosity of what would happen on the said day.

* * *

It was on early Saturday morning, and Shirou arrived in front of Nekoya's back door, ready to face whatever the owner had in store for him. He stepped in, and when he entered the kitchen, he saw the owner just finished up putting his apron on. "Oh. Good morning, Shirou-san. You're early."

"Good morning." Shirou returned the greeting. "Same goes for you. I think it's a bit too early for you to be ready, no?"

The owner chuckled a bit before replying. "Well… To start, about this Saturday shift, I actually have two employees, and they sometimes will have their breakfast here before we open the restaurant."

As if on cue, Shirou noticed the front door was opened, from the sound of the bell attached on the said door. Come to think of it, it was actually the first time for him to enter the place from the back door. He usually only walked through the back door if he wanted to throw garbage away.

When Shirou peered out to see the visitor, he saw a young woman in her teens carrying a bag-pack on her back. She was wearing a pink cardigan over a white dress-shirt, with long pink skirt covering her legs. She also wore a pink hat, the said hat covered most of her head, only enough to reveal some of her golden-blonde heir.

"Good morning!" the girl greeted with cheerful tone.

"Good morning, Aletta-san." The owner replied.

When Shirou's steel-coloured eyes met with the girl – Aletta's green, the former's habit to read everything he could about the girl came to work. As Shirou used structural analyses on the new-comer, Shirou's eyes widened when he soon learned that the girl was not a human.

Not to mention, when their eyes met, the girl had already taken her hat off, revealing a pair of horns. "Um, master… Who might this be?" the girl asked while she somewhat scooting away, her eyes seemed rather wary of Shirou's presence.

"Aletta-san, this is Shirou Emiya." The owner gestured. "He's gonna help me around the kitchen, but today is his first time, so I just want him mainly to observe."

Shirou blinked, darting his gaze between the chef and the horned-girl. He had his fair share of encounter with supernatural creatures, and from his past interactions so far, Shirou could immediately tell that the girl before him was pretty much harmless. "Nice to meet you. Aletta-san, correct?" Shirou greeted the she-demon politely with a nod.

"Ah, yes. Nice to meet you too." Aletta bashfully returned the courtesy. Her attitude somehow reminded Shirou a bit of Sakura. "By the way, master… Is Kuro not here yet?"

"Hmm…. I think she's gonna be here in any moment by now…"

Right after the owner said those words, the front door was opened again. This time, when Shirou saw the newcomer, which was a young girl dressed in black with black hair and pointy ears; his senses went on full alert as he prepared to pull several dragon-slayers from his reality marble. After all, in front of him was not just a girl – it was a phantasmal beast, a friggin' dragon to add. Call him paranoid, but Shirou's past encounters with phantasmal creatures tended to end up with him almost dying.

"Good morning, master."

Shirou's brain froze for a second when he heard the dragon just greeted (presumably) the restaurant owner as 'master'. However, Shirou found himself relaxing a bit when the owner and Aletta returned the greeting. Perhaps the dragon was a friendly, as unlikely as it sounded?

Shirou could not help but unnerved when the dragon – Kuro's impassive gaze met his. As far as Shirou knew, dragons were temperamental, and they tended to get angry from merely being stared at. Thus he could not help but having a bit hard time to keep up with the fact that a chef of western restaurant just employed a demon and a dragon.

"Shirou-san, this is Kuro." The chef introduced the dragon. "She and Aletta-san work here as waitresses."

Shirou only stared between the owner, Aletta and Kuro for a good minute before he finally decided that he could always blame Zelretch for his current predicament. "…I see. It's nice to meet you, Kuro…-san." Shirou could not help but still feeling awkward at talking with a dragon of all things.

The dragon only nodded in return. _At least the dragon was not hostile_.

"Aletta-san, have you had breakfast?" the owner asked the demon girl.

"Um… Actually, I just happened to run out of potatoes you gave me earlier… So I haven't had one." Aletta replied meekly.

The owner nodded. It was not uncommon for him to cook his Saturday-shift workers some simple dishes from time to time. Kuro might not rely too much on food to sustain herself, but…

"Shirou-san." The owner turned to Shirou, who was still standing on his spot while curiously eyeing at the two waitresses. "I did say that you will only watch for the time being, but do you mind to fix something for those two to eat?"

Shirou blinked a couple of times at the request. He turned to the two non-humans, and he found himself smiling. He had cooked for heroic spirits, mages and even some friendlier dead apostles, what would stop him from cooking for phantasmal beings?

"I'd love to." Shirou accepted. "In that case… Aletta-san and Kuro-san. Do you want anything in particular?"

"Um… I'm fine with what you can offer. It's already very kind of you to cook for us in the first place." Aletta quickly replied.

Kuro, however, was less reserved than Aletta.

"…I want chicken curry. Extra spicy."

Shirou blinked at the dragon. He knew that dragons usually communicated with some kind of telepathy, but it was still a _very_ new experience for him to talk with a dragon about food. "….Sure thing. Extra spicy, isn't it? I'll see what I can do." Shirou said as he began his preparation.

In the end, Shirou decided to fix simple curry rice for both Aletta and Kuro, as he placed two plates of food in front of the waitress pair. "This one is the mild curry for Aletta-san." Shirou said. "And for Kuro-san, the extra spicy one, per requested."

Both waitresses stared at their food for few moments. As far as the appearance went, they admitted that the new guy's skills might be at least on par with their current employer. Kuro took a quick sniff on the food, and she found that the smell was slightly stronger than the usual one the owner cooked up for her in the past. As for Aletta, it was not often for her to eat curry for breakfast, but then again, beggars could not be choosers.

"Thanks for the food." The two took their spoons and began to scoop some curry rice into their mouths.

oXo

"I have to say, Shirou-san. I've never seen those two reacted like that earlier. I guess it won't be long until you take my position." The owner of Nekoya (half) joked as he was sitting in his office with Shirou.

Shirou could only snorted in return. After all, he had a degree of pride of his cooking, and it always either amused or pleased him to find that the people enjoyed his cooking. He clearly recalled Aletta's sparkling eyes as she was literally delighted at her curry, as she commented something about 'more refined taste', 'the spices tasted like exploding in her mouth', and 'taste was simple, yet the spices and seasoning were blending together just perfect', etc.

While Kurou was less vocal on her appreciation, her blissful expression, combined with the fact that Kuro was eating with the same, if not surpassing, speed as one Taiga Fujimura, was more than enough to tell Shirou that the dragon was more than satisfied with her share.

Currently, the two were sitting in the owner's office to wait until the two waitresses had stuffed themselves with Shirou's food.

"Well, before I open the restaurant, I'll go over the topic." The owner then turned his focus on Shirou again. "Tell me, Shirou-san. What is your impression so far?"

Shirou's face then hardened ever so slightly. After all, the topic about magecraft, let alone true magic, was not a topic that could be taken lightly. "…This isn't just a normal restaurant, right? And I honestly have yet to grasp about those two waitresses of yours."

"Indeed, come to think of it…" The owner's lips twitched upward. "…You actually took things better than I expected."

"Simply put, I have my fair share of supernatural encounter." Shirou smiled lightly in return.

The owner nodded in return. After dealing with inter-dimensional doorway that led to a world filled with non-human races, magical creatures, and all; the owner would not be surprised if his actual world also had those kinds of oddities. He would not say it, but Shirou was taking things a lot better than himself when he was first introduced to the concept of restaurant to another world.

"Alright, as you may have guessed…" the owner then began. "Every Saturday, the restaurant will serve food for denizens from another world. However, the restaurant itself technically still remains in our original world. It's more like the door that is doing the actual work of allowing customers to go in."

Shirou nodded in understanding. Putting aside that Zelretch just applied Sorcery on a restaurant of all things, it made better sense that the magic was imbued on the door instead of the whole building. "I have a question." Shirou raised his hand. "How long have you been doing this? Forgive me if I sound rude, but I'd like to make sure that there won't be anything… dangerous coming to the restaurant."

"The restaurant itself has been operating for over 50 years, Shirou-san." The owner replied with face of understanding. "…And I've been doing this for a while too. Aletta and Kuro are actually rather new to this whole business."

"…I see." Shirou could only nod again. He had trained himself to remain calm in most situations, and working at a restaurant that had been imbued with Kaleidoscope was actually not the worst thing that had happened to him.

Still, Shirou's nature as a cook just could not bring himself to miss such an opportunity. Serving food to heteromorphic races, even possibly phantasmal beings? He could not run from the challenge. Then again, working at Nekoya might be proven to be a _really_ good change of pace.

"So, what do you say?"

Shirou was snapped out of his reverie when the owner spoke up. "Do you still have more questions, perhaps?" the latter asked, but he somewhat knew of what Shirou's answer would be.

Shirou only smiled as he replied, "I'm in."

* * *

"ANOTHER LARGE KATSUDON ON THE DOUBLE!"

"Yes! Shirou-san-!"

"Yeah, I heard that one, Aletta-san. Coming right up." Shirou said as he prepared another batch after hearing the loud voice of a tall beast-man warrior named Lionel. At this point, Shirou had pretty much memorized each of his regular customers, along with their favourite dishes. On that note, he believed that Lionel just ordered his fourth serving.

Aletta and Kuro were bustling around in the busy establishment as usual; greeting customers that came in and out, taking orders, and serving the said orders non-stop.

"Shirou-san, another Omelette Rice, plus three more portions for take-away." Shirou replied in affirmative after he heard Kuro's stoic voice from just outside from the kitchen. That meant he needed to prepare more eggs to cook one more Katsudon, as well as four portions of Omelette Rice.

It had been few months since Shirou had begun his Saturay shift at Nekoya. During that time, Shirou had met one surprise after another, when he found many individuals from various races had come to enjoy modern cuisine. On that note, the one who ordered Omelette Rice earlier was a Lizard-man warrior named Gaganpo.

Shirou kept recalling each customer and their likes and preferences, as he peeked from the kitchen. There was Sarah Gold – a daughter of merchant turned treasure hunter who always ordered a minced meat cutlet. She was arguing with another patron - Heinrich Seeleman over which of their food with superior taste – Sarah's minced meat cutlet or Heinrich's fried shrimp. Shirou chuckled as the two patrons arrived at another impasse.

On the bar, just right outside the kitchen, a samurai named Tatsugorou who always ordered teriyaki dish with rice set. When they met for the first time, Shirou had instinctively traced Tatsugurou's sword and stored it in his reality marble.

On another table, there was Princess Adelheid, who always ordered desserts, especially parfait. Her polite and reserved behaviour and attitude made Shirou thought of Sakura sometimes.

Nevertheless, Shirou continued taking orders and cooked bunch of food as many more people from different races kept coming and going. Of course, there were few challenges as well. One of his biggest challenges was when he had to serve the Red Queen – a dragon like Kuro, who usually came last before the restaurant's closing time, to order a beef stew. It was quite a sight for Shirou, as he finally realized that a portion of magical trace that he picked up previously, actually came from her – The Red Queen had apparently given her 'blessing' on the restaurant, and Shirou did not really expect when the said red dragon actually enjoyed his Beef Stew, thus earning him the same 'blessing'.

There were more interactions between Shirou and the Red Queen, when the latter showed quite interest on the former, due to his magic capability, but there was a story for another time.

Another challenge was when he met Fardania – a wood elf, sometimes accompanied by her fellow elf – Christian, and would sometimes ask Shirou to come up with more vegetarian dishes; a challenge that Shirou welcomed with open arms.

Currently, the Red Queen just went out with a batch of Beef Stew she ordered earlier. "Thank you and please come again!" Shirou, Aletta and Kuro bowed their heads as the red dragon nodded with a smile before the door finally closed.

The Red Queen usually was the last diner for the day, but at the moment, there were actually two more customers, as Shirou still had some time before he had to pack up. Both of them were women; and Shirou knew them well – Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou.

"So, how's the evening?" Shirou smiled as he stood over the table where the sisters were occupying.

Rin, who just finished her dessert, cleaned her mouth with a napkin in elegant manner – Tohsaka style. "As expected from you, Emiya-kun."

"It was very delicious, senpai – I mean, Shirou." Sakura smiled. Even after graduating from high-school all those years ago, Sakura still had some difficulty of addressing him.

"Glad you like it." Shirou returned the smile as he stood proudly.

"But still…" Rin said as she looked around. "For you, the aspiring ally of justice, to own a restaurant with true magic imbued…"

"For the record, you can blame Zelretch for that." Shirou cut in just smoothly. "Also, I just happened to keep the restaurant running while the owner have to settle some stuff back at his home. I'm still a part-timer in the end."

"I see…" Rin nodded. "Oh, and you really need to be thankful that this kind of place is not in Fuyuki, otherwise I won't turn blind eye and have to report this place to the Clock Tower." She said with teasing smirk.

"Please, you actually like coming here." Shirou replied. "If not for the food, I know that you'd always talk with Altorius or Victoria-san about magic from the age of gods." On that remark, Rin only pouted.

"Shirou." It was Sakura who spoke. "While you are working here, are you still searching for _her_?" the smile on her face kind of faded when she said that.

Shirou stared at his junior for few seconds before he smiled softly and nodded in reply.

"I see… I guess that's just you being you." Sakura sighed, albeit her smile still remained.

"Things just don't change about him…" Rin put in her two cents.

The three old friends fell into a comfortable silence, as Aletta and Kuro were cleaning up without disturbing them. Then, at that moment, Shirou noticed that the entrance door was slowly opened. Another customer at this hour? That was kind of new. When the door was opened, the entrance was showing an endless blue sky with few feathers of clouds of softest white, along with an endless field of grass below.

"Welcome!"

As soon as Aletta greeted the customer; Rin, Sakura and especially Shirou could not possibly be ready for what – _who_ was standing at the entrance of Western Restaurant Nekoya.

* * *

How long had she been waiting by that point?

The woman in question herself honestly had no idea, as she had lived a life that was filled with sacrifice, duty, and uncompromising ideals; followed by a slumber so deep that it seemed nothing would ever be able to wake her up from it. But even in the endless sleep, she had dreamt, longing for someone to come and find her. Thus she waited, always waiting.

However, one day, she slowly opened her eyes, as she felt a presence near the spot where she was sleeping – under a tree, on an endless field of the greenest, softest grass. She blinked a couple of times, blinking her sleepiness away until she realized that she was still on her own, which was rather _strange_.

She stood up, her stainless white dress and her long hair – gold as the sun on the blue sky above her, blew in the soft breeze that rustled the leaves on the tree and grass on the field. She scanned her surrounding, only to find a wooden door at the edge of a nearby forest.

Following her feelings, she took a step, and walked until she was standing in front of the out-of-place door, where a sign with cat design was hung on the surface – Nekoya.

Her eyes turned to stare at the handle. Something beckoned her to open the door, as her hand twitched and slowly lifted up to grasp the golden handle. She slowly twisted the handle, and pushed the door opened, eliciting a bell to ring.

She found herself facing what appeared to be some kind of establishment, which she recognized the place as some sort of an eatery, a restaurant. The first thing she noticed was a pair of young girls, one with a pair of horns on her blonde hair, the other was a girl in black. "Welcome!" the former greeted her.

However, what caught her off-guard the most was the sight of three other individuals sitting on a table. Three of them were stupefied at the sight of the woman dressed in white looking back at her. One of the three was a man – his hair was red with few white streaks. When her green eyes met his grey ones, all of them could not help but fell into silence for few seconds, until one word was muttered.

"…Ah."

* * *

 **That's the wrap! The idea basically came up when I found a certain picture of characters from Fate Stay Night in a restaurant, with Shirou and Sakura running the kitchen, and Ilya, Rin, Taiga etc. as the guests.**

 **What do you guys think of this one-shot? I wish I could have written something longer, but I myself don't really understand about culinary and stuff. Constructive reviews are welcomed, no flame. Ahsoei, over and out.**


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